Good Samaritan and dog rescued after getting trapped on 200 foot cliff side in Weehawken

NBCNorth Hudson Regional and Fire Rescue performed a high angle rescue to save a trapped man and dog from a Palisades cliff ledge.

The North Hudson High Angle Rescue team had their work cut out for them last night after a man and a dog wound up on the edge of a 200 foot high cliff in the Palisades, said North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Co-Director Jeff Welz.

At around 11:35 p.m., Lineuri Placencia, 20, of Passaic, was walking her Yorkshire Terrier around Hamilton Park in Weehawken when her canine went loose, Welz said.

The dog made its way through some fencing in front of the cliff's edge, then plummeted some 25 feet off below onto an outcropping, Welz said.

After hearing Placencia's cries for help, Samaritan Luis Lopez, 19, of West New York, attempted to scale the cliff face to rescue the dog. However, Lopez also wound up stranded on the same outcropping, Welz said.

North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue conducted a rope and ladder rescue to retrieve the canine and the Good Samaritan; who, according to Welz, were lucky to have landed where they fell.

"Five feet from where they dropped is where the cliff ends," Welz explained.

"It's very dangerous. Between the undergrove and the treetops you can't tell how far the drop is at any given point," Welz continued.

No injuries were reported. However, the terrier was brought to a veterinarian after the incident as a precautionary measure, Welz said.

"Although this turned out well, we don't recommend this type of action especially at night when it's dark," Welz warned.